Blade for sickle bars



March 29, 1932. A5 THOMAS BLADE FOR SIGKLE BARS Filed March 1. 1928Patented Mar. 29,1932 I a n r l I ARTHUR w neries, or BBAYMER, ivnssoum,AssiGnoRorfonEHALr To or'iARnEss-Q THOMAS, OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 1 lBLADE ron sIoKLE BAR-sf Application'filed March-1,1928. serial Nb-.-25s,224

This invention relates to improvements in the application of the bladeofmyinvention sickle bars for mowing or harvesting maat the head endthereof; chines and has'particular reference to a new Fig. '2 is 'a viewon anenlarged scale of the. form of blade arranged to be applied to ahead end of the bar'lookingatthe back ultra sickle bar in a novel mannerwhen the same of Q t V 1 l f has been broken, whereby not only to makeFig. 3 is an under side View of F igi 2, and the sickle bar serviceableagain but even Fig. e'isfa' section taken on the" line stronger; at thepoint where it failed than it of either Fig. 1 Or -Fig; 3, lookinginfthed'iformerly was. rectionof the arrows.

Sickle bars are generally made up of sin- The. same reference n'umeralsareapplied to gle-prong blades or teeth riveted indivi'dualtocorresponding parts throughou't'theviews. ly on a long narrow rodextending the length Sickle bars forjfmowing'l'or' harvestingfmaofthe'bar and having a head riveted on the chines, as abovestated, armaaeiap fa 'p1u one end thereof forreciproeation in a guide rality. ofsingle prong bladesor teeth 5 rive'ted provided in the finger bar. Therod is rather by the but-t portions thereof,eachbya pair of 65 small incross-section andso frail, especially ri ets"6,asshowii, to asmallrod7'extendijng' at the rivet holes, that when a jamoccurs the lengthofthe bar/ and suitably riveted by reason of one or more of the bladesenat one end, as at 8tola head 9. The latter i countering sticksorrocks, a failure is almost hasthe 'usual projecting" boss 10 forswiyel of the bar. Experience, has shown that about eating the sicklebar inits'guide on the finger 95% of the breaks occur at the operatedend bar. The headfals'o has laterally projecting of the bar, that is, atthe head, this being the flanges ll and 12 arranged t6 be received inpoint where the greatest strain is. imposed guideways atthe end ofthe'finger bart'o ason the rod, and the rod .invariably breaks at sumethe vertical thrustincideiit to theoperar 75 one ofthe rivet holes; Ithas been customary tion of the sickle bar the pitinan rod, asis l toweld the rod at the break, rerivet the blade, well known in the art;.The blades 5 are, bf

and putthe sickle bar back into service. Howcourse,' individuallyremovable and replaceever, once a sickle bar was repaired in that ablewhen they are worm out or have become v way, it was a matter of only ashort time badly chipped orare brokenoft. It'hasb'een so u when afailure would occur again inasmuch found that whenajam occurs by reasonof one f as the bar was a 'lot weaker'after repair or more of thebladesencounteringsti'cks or v than before. Now,according to my inventionrocks, especially on the pulllstroke of the I provide a novel form ofblade especially sickle'bar, the rod? breaks,almostinvariably v designedfor use in making repairs of the at point m,indicated by adotted lineinFigQ3, Be kind referred to, which,by.reason of thefac-t at the endmostrivet 6 on the rod, that is,

, that it is long enough to span the pcintwhere right next to the head9, In fact,,95%o of the break occurred, is arranged to give re thefailures have been foundto occur at the enforcement to such anextentthat the sickle point refe-rredto, thereas'on'undoubtedly be- 40 bar isat least asstrongafterthe repairas ing'lthat' the greatest str s occursatthat 90 it was before the break occurred, if not point. Itjhas been,customaryto weld-the stronger. It will be evident, of course, thatpieces of the rod together; rerivetth'eiblade theinvention is notparticularly limited to atthe weld, andput the sicklelbarbackiiiito useas a repair means for sickle bars, inasservice. 'Howeveaa break wasmuchimore I much as a blade ofthe present character may apt .to occurafter arepair' f thatkind had 9 5 be inserted at the head'end of the barin been made thaniwa's the cas;e .,before.' The I the assemblingthereofat the factory. .construction'of-jthe sicklebarand its guide onThe invention is illustrated in the accomthe fingerbarwould,notperinitoftheappli panying drawings, wh'ere'in cation,of anyadditionalstrengthening piece Figure 1 is a view of a sickle bar showing toreenforce the the weld, f the bound tooccur, especially on the pullstroke connection with the pitman'rod for reciprogo *E- to my inventionthe sickle bar can be repaired and reenforced to a substantial degreewithout the use of an extra reenforcing mm ber, and'in such a way'thatit is not altered in form or size, but will fit in andoperate reciselyasbeforein its regular guide in the nger bar, the said means comprisinga special blade giving a' reenforcenient equal in strengthalmost to therod 7 itself. f Referring tothe drawings, a blade provided in accordancewith my invention is shown at 5 riveted in place at the'head end of thebar spanning the point where the rod 7 has been mended,

Iprefer to use a blade having four prongs but any blade of two prongs ormore may be employed', so that the blade is long enough to bring one ormore prongs on either side of the weld. It may be possible to evendispense with the "welding of the rod and rely on the strength of theblade itself-to mend a broken bar, although ordinarily it will probablybe deemed advisable to weld the pieces of the rod together. The amountoffreenforcement re- 1 sulting frointhe use of a special blade of thiskind obviqusly is determine d jby the section of the blade through itsweakest point, name'- ly, atthe crotch 13 bjetweentwo adjoining prongs,and even at this point the blade is of V suflicient section, as comparedwith the rod 7 I fiftyfto one hundred percent, depending, of course, on"the thickness of, the blade used. 'When a' sickle bar hasv been repairedbyth e to give reen'foroement'equal to anywhere from V removal of one'ormore single prong blades veys ablear'understanding of mvinven'tion,

on one s idefof-thepoint where the rod 7 has been broken andby theremoval of enough blades on jtheother side to permit the substitution ofmy specialjblade,, andtheIrod has only in an'extreme cases of jamming;the bar is so-much stronger at the head end by virtue of thefr'eenforcement afforded by the blade that the heaviest strains canbeimposed without resulting in damage. I I I It is believed theforegoing description-con- It should be understood, as stated before,that while special referencehas been madeto' the use of my invention asa highlyadvantageous form of means for repairing broken sicklebarsQ-fand that the same will ordinarily be used at the head end of'thebar, where most failures are found to occur, the invention isnotliinitedto use in thespecific manner described, inasmuch as the samemay beused to ations of the invention.

' at this point.

" 4. A sickle barblade adapted for use in ployed in the repairing ofbreaks occurring I I points other than at the head end ofa sickle bar.For these reasonsthe appended claims have been drawn with a view tocovering all legitimate modifications,adaptations, or vari- I claim: 7

van

1. Ina sickle bar, the combination with a I longitudinal member havingaplurality of single prong blades fastened thereto separately bytheirbutt portions to permit indi vidual removal and replacement, of ablade section having an elongated butt portion equivalent'in span to thebutt portions of two or more of the aforesaid single prong blades andarranged tojbe secured byits butt portion to the longitudinal member inplace of two or more ofthe aforesaid blades.

2; In a sickle bar, the combination with a longitudinal member having aplurality of single prong blades faste'nedthereto' separately by theirbutt portions-to permit individual removal and replacement, of a blade 1section having two or more prongs on a correspondingly elongated buttportion, said blade sectionQbeing arranged to be secured by its buttportion, taking the'place or moreo'f-the aforesaid blades.

3. In a sickle bar, the combination witha. I longitudinal member forcarrying and rec1p--l'= rocating aplurality of blades, and having aplurality of single prong blades fastened. thereto separately by'thebutt portions thereof substantially'the full-length thereof, each ofsaidblades being individually removable and replaceable in the eventof'wearor break- 3 age,'and ahead fastened on one end of said member andarranged to have; connection of two I to I with operating means forreciprocating the bar in a guide provided therefoiyof a plural prongblade section having'an elongatedbutt portion corresponding in length tothe 11mm 'ber of prongs in the bladesectionysaid blade being fastenedtothe longitudinal member at the head end thereof between the head andthe member and withonlya portion of the 1 length thereof disposed underthe head,

whereby the same serves to reenforce the bar the manner hereindescribed, having anelongated butt portion equivalent in span to thebutt portions of two or more single blade" units, and arranged to'besecured by its butt portion in place of two or more of such blades, I a

said blade having sharpened prongs project,- I

ing from thebutt portion. I i I 1 In witness of the foregoingI a'fiix my'sig'- nature.

. -good advantage in the manufacture of sickle barsas af'means simplyofreenforcing the same tofprevent failure under thecircumstances-'hereinj'noted and might also teem- ARTHUR T I

